1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus of an absorbent article and a manufacturing method of an absorbent article for arranging an elastic member on a web by using a guide unit guiding the elastic member, the web being conveyed in a predetermined direction in a state in which components forming one part of the absorbent article are sequentially arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the manufacturing process of an absorbent article such as a disposable diaper widely uses a method of arranging a filiform elastic member (rubber) having stretching properties in positions corresponding to leg circumferential regions and a crotch region, in order to improve the fittingness of the leg circumferential regions and the crotch region to a target wearing the article (for example, a human body).
Specifically, in the manufacturing process, a filiform elastic member is arranged in a waveform on a web in which components of absorbent articles, such as back sheets or absorbent sheets, are sequentially arranged. That is, the filiform elastic member is arranged in a waveform on a crosswise-flow web in which the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article is arranged in a cross direction (CD) crossing a conveyance direction (Machine Direction (MD)) of the web. Accordingly, the absorbent articles each provided with gathers corresponding to the shapes of the leg circumferential regions and the crotch region can be continuously manufactured.
As such a method of arranging a filiform elastic member in a waveform on a web being conveyed, known is a method in which a guide member guiding the elastic member to a feeding position on the web is driven by a cam (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H3-33201 (page 4, FIGS. 6 and 7)).
In addition, known is a method in which a guide member guiding an elastic member to a feeding position on a web is reciprocated in cross directions crossing a conveyance direction of the web (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-141642 (page 10, FIG. 1)).
In this regard, the feeding position of the elastic member from the guide member may be positioned exactly at a nip point where an elastic member and a web are brought into contact with each other by being together held between press rollers provided above and under the web, and this positioning may be made by bringing the guide member into direct contact with the nip point. In fact, however, such positioning is not practical because of the layout of the apparatus. For this reason, designing a profile of an apparatus that moves a guide member is required to consider this distance.
However, the above-described conventional manufacturing apparatus of an absorbent article has the following problem. Specifically, this problem is that the profile of a device such as a cam has to be precisely designed in consideration of a distance between a nip point and a feeding position in order to accurately arrange an elastic member in a desired position on a web which is being conveyed at high speed.